How much property purchase tax is due on a €300,000 home across Europe?
Buy a €300,000 home to live in and the tax you pay on the purchase depends heavily on where in Europe it is. In Ireland it's €3,000. In the 4 German Länder with the highest rate, Brandenburg, Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia), Saarland and Schleswig-Holstein, it's €19,500. That's a gap of €16,500 on the same price.
Raise the price and the order changes. Most of these countries charge one flat percentage, so the tax simply grows in line with the price. Brussels, Portugal and Ireland don't, and by €2,000,000 Brussels charges €250,000 and Portugal €166,000.
How we worked out these numbers
We ran this site's purchase-tax calculator for each country at five prices: €200,000, €300,000, €500,000, €1,000,000 and €2,000,000. The buyer is the same every time: an individual, aged 40, buying a resale home as their only home and main residence, and not a first-time buyer.
- Germany sets Grunderwerbsteuer by Land. We ran all 16 and show the cheapest, Bavaria (Bayern), and the dearest group.
- Belgium sets registration duty by region, so Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels each get a row, all at the rate for an only home.
- Finland taxes an apartment, which is legally a share in a housing company, at a lower rate than a house with its own land, so both are shown.
- Portugal is IMT for a main home on the mainland, plus the stamp duty charged on the same purchase.
- The Netherlands is the own-home rate, and Ireland residential stamp duty.
- Austria is the standard Grunderwerbsteuer. The separate land registry fee isn't included.
France, Spain and Italy aren't here because this site doesn't yet have a purchase-tax calculator for them. In each of those countries the tax also depends on the region or on whether the home is new, so we'd rather leave them out than estimate.
If you're a first-time buyer, or buying to let, our comparison of property transfer tax on a €400,000 home shows how the Dutch starter exemption, Portugal's young buyer relief and the investor rates change the bill.
What a €300,000 home costs in tax
Property purchase tax on a €300,000 home in Europe, 2026
Download CSVEuros. Individual buying a resale home as their only home and main residence, aged 40, not a first-time buyer. Tax only: notary, land registry and agent fees are not included. Source: Bedrock Calculator transfer tax engines.
| Germany: highest-rate Länder | €19,500 | 6.50% | Grunderwerbsteuer, flat rate |
| Portugal | €12,942.04 | 4.31% | IMT (banded, main home) plus stamp duty |
| Belgium: Brussels | €12,500 | 4.17% | Registration duty, only-home allowance below a price cap |
| Germany: Bavaria (Bayern) | €10,500 | 3.50% | Grunderwerbsteuer, flat rate |
| Austria | €10,500 | 3.50% | Grunderwerbsteuer, standard rate (land registry fee excluded) |
| Belgium: Wallonia | €9,000 | 3.00% | Registration duty, only-home rate |
| Finland: house | €9,000 | 3.00% | Varainsiirtovero on real estate |
| Netherlands | €6,000 | 2.00% | Overdrachtsbelasting, own-home rate |
| Belgium: Flanders | €6,000 | 2.00% | Registration duty, only-home rate |
| Finland: apartment | €4,500 | 1.50% | Varainsiirtovero on housing company shares |
| Ireland | €3,000 | 1.00% | Residential stamp duty, banded |
Most of the spread comes from flat rates set at different levels. Bavaria (Bayern) charges €10,500 on €300,000 and the dearest Länder €19,500, so where you buy within Germany matters as much as which country. Austria matches the cheapest German rate at €10,500.
The Netherlands and Flanders both charge €6,000, and Wallonia €9,000. A Finnish apartment costs €4,500 in tax, while a Finnish house at the same price costs €9,000.
Portugal and Brussels sit near the top at this price, for different reasons. Portugal's €12,942 comes from a banded tax that has already climbed through several bands by €300,000. Brussels charges €12,500, even though its rate is high, because the first part of the price is tax-free for an only home.
How the tax changes as the price rises
For the flat-rate countries the line is flat. Every euro of price carries the same tax, so a €2,000,000 home in one of the dearest German Länder costs €130,000, exactly ten times the €13,000 on €200,000.
Three places behave differently:
- Brussels gives an only-home buyer a tax-free allowance off the price, but only up to a price cap. At €200,000 the allowance covers everything and the duty is €0. At €500,000 it's €37,500. Above the cap the allowance disappears and the full rate applies to the whole price: €125,000 on €1,000,000 and €250,000 on €2,000,000, the highest of any place here.
- Portugal exempts the first slice of a main-home purchase, then taxes each band at a rising rate. At higher prices IMT switches to a single rate on the whole value. The effective rate goes from 2.57% at €200,000 to 6.80% at €1,000,000 and 8.30% at €2,000,000.
- Ireland charges its lowest band on everything up to €1,000,000, so a €1,000,000 home costs €10,000. Above that, two higher bands kick in, and €2,000,000 costs €50,000. Even so, Ireland stays among the cheapest at every price we tested.
Here's the whole ladder. Sort by any price to see how the ranking shifts.
Property purchase tax from €200,000 to €2,000,000 in Europe, 2026
Download CSVEuros, same buyer at each price. Source: Bedrock Calculator transfer tax engines.
| Belgium: Brussels | €0 | €12,500 | €37,500 | €125,000 | €250,000 |
| Portugal | €5,142.04 | €12,942.04 | €30,236.65 | €68,000 | €166,000 |
| Germany: highest-rate Länder | €13,000 | €19,500 | €32,500 | €65,000 | €130,000 |
| Germany: Bavaria (Bayern) | €7,000 | €10,500 | €17,500 | €35,000 | €70,000 |
| Austria | €7,000 | €10,500 | €17,500 | €35,000 | €70,000 |
| Belgium: Wallonia | €6,000 | €9,000 | €15,000 | €30,000 | €60,000 |
| Finland: house | €6,000 | €9,000 | €15,000 | €30,000 | €60,000 |
| Ireland | €2,000 | €3,000 | €5,000 | €10,000 | €50,000 |
| Netherlands | €4,000 | €6,000 | €10,000 | €20,000 | €40,000 |
| Belgium: Flanders | €4,000 | €6,000 | €10,000 | €20,000 | €40,000 |
| Finland: apartment | €3,000 | €4,500 | €7,500 | €15,000 | €30,000 |
What these numbers leave out
These figures are the purchase tax alone. They don't include:
- Notary, land registry and legal fees, which every one of these countries charges in some form. Austria's land registry fee, for example, is a separate charge on top of the tax shown.
- Estate agent commission, which in several of these countries is partly or wholly paid by the buyer.
- First-time buyer and young buyer reliefs, such as the Dutch starter exemption and Portugal's relief for buyers aged 35 or under. Finland abolished its first-time buyer exemption for purchases from 2024.
- Second homes and buy-to-let, which pay more in the Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal.
- Brussels' extended allowance for buyers who commit to an energy renovation, and the conditions Flanders tightened from 2026, such as excluding purchases made partly through a company.
- Portugal's islands. The Azores and Madeira have their own IMT tables.
- New builds, which in some countries carry VAT instead of, or as well as, transfer tax.
Getting your own figure
Each calculator lets you change the buyer and the property. Try the Germany property transfer tax calculator for your Land, the Portugal IMT calculator if you're 35 or under or buying a second home, or the Belgium registration duty calculator to see whether the Brussels allowance applies. For Ireland, the stamp duty calculator covers the higher bands. Add notary and registry fees before you settle on a budget.
